Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research, volume 378 6th International Conference on Education, Language, Art and Inter-cultural Communication (ICELAIC 2019) The Course of Chinese Culture’s New Life Since the May 4th Movement: From Cultural Awakening to Cultural Self-Confidence Qinzhao Han School of Marxism Zhejiang University Hangzhou, China 310000 Abstract—The May 4th Movement is the beginning of culture, and ethical culture, Chinese culture was still not Chinese culture. Summarizing the development of Chinese prosperous at the time. This shows that Chinese culture cannot culture since the May 4th Movement has important practical be reborn without changing the nature of China's semi-colonial significance for enhancing the cultural confidence of the Chinese and semi-feudal society and not mobilizing the broad masses people and the Chinese nation. Before the May 4th Movement, of the people. the changes in Chinese culture were mostly cultural movements led by a few enlighteners, top-down, and lacking a strong In the face of serious social problems caused by the Opium leadership core. As a result, they failed to lead Chinese culture to War, a small number of people of insight in the feudal prosperity. After the May 4th Movement, history and people intellectuals began to face up to and learn about science and handed over the baton of Chinese cultural development to the technology. Lin Zexu is the first person in modern China to Chinese Communist Party. Chinese culture has embarked on the open his eyes to the world. When he banned opium in path of cultural renewal led by the Communist Party of China, Guangzhou, he organized people to translate Western books guided by Marxism and centered on the people, and has achieved and magazines, and introduced the geographical and historical the overall awakening of the people. Socialism with Chinese conditions of other countries in the world in detail, making characteristics has entered a new era. Chinese culture has "opening the world" an unstoppable cultural trend. Since then, gradually moved toward cultural self-confidence. This has united Wei Yuan has further proposed the idea of "learn from the consensus for the Chinese dream of realizing the great foreigners to compete with them" in "Records and Maps of the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation and provided China's wisdom World", and advocated studying foreign advanced science and and China's plan for the development of world civilization. The technology in order to achieve the goal of enriching the great banner of socialism with Chinese characteristics based on Chinese culture is elevated in the world. country and resisting external abuse. The "learn from foreigners to compete with them" has realized the ideological Keywords—comprehensive awakening; cultural self- leap from "observing foreign countries" to "learning foreign confidence; the May 4th Movement; course of new life advanced technology" and laid the ideological foundation for the Westernization Movement. The Westernization Group actively promoted modern industry and put forward the idea of I. INTRODUCTION "westernized Chinese style" in culture. That is, the Confucian This year marks the 100th anniversary of the May 4th ethical culture is the "subject" and the western science and Movement and the 70th anniversary of the founding of the technology culture is the "method" to achieve the goal of "self- People's Republic of China. Summarizing the process of the improvement" and "seeking wealth" and continuing to Chinese Communist Party leading the Chinese people to maintain feudal rule. The fiasco of the Sino-Japanese War realize the new life of the national culture is of great practical declared the Westernization Movement, which was based on significance to enhancing the self-confidence of the Chinese the "westernized Chinese style", went bankrupt. In the late people and the Chinese nation, uniting the social consensus, Qing Dynasty, intellectuals attempted to maintain the purpose accelerating the building of a socialist modern country, and of feudal rule through the transformation of science and realizing the Chinese nation's great rejuvenation. technology and determine the destiny of its inevitable defeat. Because the new productive forces are incompatible with the II. THE ATTEMPT OF CULTURAL CHANGE BEFORE THE feudal production relations, it is impossible to develop under MAY 4TH MOVEMENT: ATTEMPTS BY A FEW ENLIGHTENED the shackles of feudalism. PEOPLE The failure of the Sino-Japanese War of 1894 made the The changes in Chinese culture before the May 4th Chinese people realize that learning Western powers only on Movement were mostly cultural movements led by a few the material and technical level could not free China from the enlightened people, top-down, and lacking a strong leadership situation of backward beatings. It must carry out the "legal core. After the changes in science and technology, political reform" at the institutional level, and the reform of Chinese Copyright © 2019 The Authors. Published by Atlantis Press SARL. This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY-NC 4.0 license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/). 794 Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research, volume 378 political culture began. The Reform Movement of 1898 without the support of the broadest masses of the people, initiated by the bourgeois reformists represented by Kang achieving national independence and cultural rejuvenation can Youwei and Liang Qichao hopes to adopt the "present item" of only be a piece of empty talk. The Westernization Chinese the imperial court, implement the reform and reform, and take style of the Westernization School fundamentally hopes to the path of "Yingdiwang". Kang Youwei launched the learn Western scientific and technological civilization to "Gongche Shangshu movement" in conjunction with the maintain feudal rule. The reformism of the bourgeois examinations in Beijing to express the necessity and urgency reformers is even more illusory to "reform" without touching of the reform. Although the reformists also set up books and the foundation of the feudal economy. The bourgeois set up schools, these activities are basically limited to the small revolutionaries did not propose a clear anti-imperialist slogan, circles of bureaucrats and intellectuals. Because of the fear of hoping to compromise the concession in exchange for the strength of the masses of the people, the inability to imperialism's support for the Chinese revolution. Different mobilize the masses as a guarantee of power, and the inherent from the natural weakness and compromise of the bourgeoisie, weakness of the bourgeois reformists, the Reform Movement the Communist Party of China clearly proposed the democratic of 1898 quickly failed. The failure of the Reform Movement of revolutionary program with the anti-imperialist and anti-feudal 1898 led some people to abandon their political reforms and as the struggle goal. The CCP’s two majors defeated the embark on the path of changing the Chinese political culture warlords, overthrew the imperialist oppression, unified China with the social revolution. The 1911 Revolution led by Sun as the true democratic republic as the current stage of the Yat-sen established the first bourgeois republican government, revolutionary program, and pointed out clear goals for the which enabled the concept of democratic republic to be deeply Chinese people. Under the leadership of the Communist Party rooted in the hearts of the people and promoted political and of China, the Chinese people adhered to the combination of cultural changes, due to the weakness and compromise of the Marxism and China's reality, carried out a resolute anti- bourgeoisie itself, it is impossible to propose a revolutionary imperialist and anti-feudal struggle, and finally won the victory program that is completely anti-imperialist and anti-feudal. of the new-democratic revolution and changed the semi-feudal Without the leadership of political parties armed with and semi-feudal society in China. advanced theories, the bourgeois revolutionaries quickly handed over the power to the so-called "strong man"1 who has The May Fourth Movement promoted the establishment of both new ideas and old means, and naturally gave up the the Communist Party of China, and the Chinese revolution has power to lead China’s political and cultural changes. since had a strong and unified leadership. The absence of a strong political party leader is an important reason for the The failure of the Westernization Movement, the Reform failure of the bourgeois democratic revolutionaries. As Tung Movement of 1898, and the Revolution of 1911 made China's Meng Hui, who should unite all revolutionary forces, the advanced intellectuals increasingly realize that only by internal organization is lax, the factions are mixed, and there is breaking the shackles of feudal ethical culture can it be no core leadership. Sun Yat-sen deplores that "the internal possible to save the country from peril. The May 4th elements are divided and the steps are messy. There is no spirit Movement broke out in the brewing. of unity and self-government. The virtues of inheritance are not guaranteed. The party leader is equal to the shackles, and 3 III. THE EXPLORATION OF CULTURAL DEVELOPMENT the party members have scattered sand." Unlike the bourgeois AFTER THE MAY 4TH MOVEMENT: THE CULTURAL revolutionaries, the Chinese Communists were honed in the harsh and difficult struggle environment, forging